Greek philosophers talked about truth, and we all know that truth is a precious, albeit rare, thing. More so in this time of spin, propaganda, twitter, and fake news. History has many examples of truth being twisted, and one such occurred during the Seventies. This was when the EEC gave the intended boost to Continental sugar-beet farmers by placing huge tariffs on cane-sugar from the Caribbean growers.
Few cared about the jobs lost in the Caribbean, nor for those lost later in New Zealand when tariffs were applied on their butter, but I remember how quickly some leading lights blamed the public when the supermarkets ran out of sugar. Their views were echoed by the pious worthies of TV who said that the shortage came about when selfish members of the public panicked. But in reality the problem had been created by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which was designed to protect European farming jobs from competition.
Forty years later, the CAP is still being used to prevent competition with the result some Charities say, that most foreign aid to Africa could be stopped within three years if tariffs on food imports were removed and Africans allowed to trade their products here as freely as they now trade them in China.
The Chinese now farm millions of acres across Africa and believe strongly in the dictum “Trade not Aid.” And so it is probable that when the time comes for them to write the history of Africa, they will say that the Europeans stole the African’s resources and then keep them poor by aid programmes which discouraged them from doing anything for themselves. Many will then conclude that it was China only who allowed Africans the means to trade themselves out of ‘third world’ status.
On the home front, in addition to the ‘protectionist’ CAP, there are many ways in which our taxes are spent and I’m sure much of it is wasted on ineffective programmes such as HS2. Many also argue that the hundreds of billions spent on wind turbines is also largely wasted. According to https://notalotofpeopleknowthat. wordpress.com/2018/01/13/european-wind-power-data/ wind generates just over 2% of Europe’s total power requirement even during our windiest season. The website above is not liked by many because it exposes use of selected statistics by vested interests, however it does give a different picture to that of the mainstream media.
Talking of which reminds me that in my youth I had a mentor who was fond of making me look for ‘the big picture.’ He did this to ensure my mind did not get stuck in one place because, as he said, ‘If anybody’s mind dwells on one thing for too long a mole-hill turns into a mountain, and all sense of proportion goes out of the window.” It was his big picture that helped me to see that every single creature from bacteria upwards has a role in creation, and that at the bottom of the hierarchy their role is to eat the waste of those above them.
This continues right up the food chain until we too are broken down into the minerals and elements from which we are made. This process was even set to music in the Yorkshire folk song ‘On Ilkley Mooar baht’at, where its’ closing verse triumphantly relates how we ‘Get our Owen back’ when we eat the ducks which have eaten the worms which ate the bacteria at the bottom of the food chain.
Like that sensible Yorkshireman, I came to see that there is no vice or virtue about this natural creative recycling process and therefore no cause for human arrogance in the process of life. This simple truth then led me to conclude that we humans should be mindful of our limits. And not, as do some, promote the notion that lower species have the same sensibilities and capacities as humans, nor, as do others, strive to select or create perfected specimens of humanity.
Maybe this hierarchy was in the mind of St Matthew as he recorded the words. “Blessed are the humble for they shall inherit the earth” and was also behind the later, more personal, quotation, “Do not think too lowly or too highly of yourselves.”
This latter thought prompts the question. Could an excess of lowly humility paradoxically lead to high feelings of self-righteousness? And I wonder if this topic was discussed at the group who meet in a Community Centre in Dakota County, Minnesota. Outside of which the notice board reads:
The Low Self-Esteem Support Group will meet on Thursday at 7 PM.
Please use the back door.
View from the Pew 